NAS and the Samara Region agree to jointly develop unmanned and autonomous technologies

At the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, the Governor of the Samara Region, Vyacheslav Andreevich Fedorishchev, and the Chairman of the Board of the National Autonomous Systems Association, Dmitry Gennadievich Afanasyev, signed a strategic cooperation agreement.

The agreement is aimed at accelerating the adoption of autonomous technologies into the economy, developing the regulatory environment, supporting domestic developers and creating conditions for scaling up the best regional practices across the Russian Federation.

The Samara Region is one of Russia’s leading regions in developing unmanned aviation and the practical application of experimental legal regimes. The region’s accumulated experience can become the basis for forming unified industry approaches at the federal level.

Key areas of cooperation

Improving regulation and developing ELRs

The parties will pay particular attention to developing and scaling up experimental legal regimes in the field of unmanned technologies. The Samara Region will continue to strengthen its status as one of the key competency centres for ELR deployment, while the NAS Association will provide expert and methodological support to regions interested in using these mechanisms.

Practical adoption of autonomous technologies

The parties agreed to jointly implement projects to deploy unmanned aircraft systems and autonomous solutions across various sectors of the economy.

• aerial logistics and cargo delivery;
• monitoring of transport, energy and industrial infrastructure;
• forest protection;
• agricultural aviation work;
• environmental monitoring;
• ensuring the security of territories and facilities;
• creating new digital services based on autonomous technologies.

Science, education and workforce training

The agreement provides for cooperation with universities, scientific organisations, technology companies and development institutions to create and adopt advanced solutions, train specialists of the new economy and develop the industry’s human capital.

Forming a unified industry agenda

A separate area will be developing coordinated proposals for advancing the autonomous systems industry, improving regulation and support measures for Russian developers.

Active cooperation is planned with federal authorities, development institutions and the expert community, including work within the framework of the “Industry” commission of the State Council of the Russian Federation.

«The Samara Region is one of Russia’s recognised leaders in adopting unmanned technologies and implementing experimental legal regimes. The agreement signed will make it possible to combine the capabilities of the region, business, science and the professional community for the accelerated development of autonomous systems». Dmitry Afanasyev, Chairman of the Board of the NAS Association

The agreement is concluded for a term of three years with the possibility of further extension.

The signing of the document became the NAS Association’s first strategic agreement with a constituent entity of the Russian Federation at SPIEF 2026 and confirms the Association’s course towards consolidating market participants and forming a unified ecosystem for the development of autonomous technologies in Russia.